Tales Told By Dead Friends
by allurement
Summary: AU. So what, are you trying to say that a video game killed my best friend?
1. Prologue

**Disclaimer: **I do not own _Naruto_ or _Stay Alive_.

**Warning: **Contains violence, gore and strong language.

* * *

"Shit," Chouji swore, as he almost accidentally knocked over his glass of water across his desk.

Phew. Okay. Never mind. Disaster averted. Years of gaming had sharpened his reflexes, so he had managed to grab the glass before it could spill, lifting it to his lips and downing its contents in one go. Better safe than sorry, after all.

Speaking of gaming, that reminded him. He turned his attention back to his computer screen, where his character had just finished its conversation with a NPC, who was supposed to be the town's mayor. The large-breasted blonde had just given him the key to the local haunted manor as a reward for returning to her a necklace with a long, crystal pendant, a gift to her from her late fiancé that held a lot of sentimental value.

"Sweet." Chouji grinned and wiped his mouth with his sleeve. With his left hand, he held the direction controller of his gamepad (firmly, but not too tight, otherwise it tensed up the muscles, making jerk reflexes slower) and steered his character towards the manor the NPC was pointing to, and with the other, he reached into a half-eaten bag of potato chips, taking out a handful and stuffing them into his mouth, all the while not taking his eyes off of the computer screen. Crumbs fell from his mouth onto his desk, which he wiped off absentmindedly.

"Well, fuck me," Chouji murmured, as the door to the manor creaked open and his player stepped inside. "The designers really went all out for this."

It was perfect. The foyer was dark and dirty-looking, and an eerie tune started playing as soon as he stepped onto the faded carpet, a tune so terribly sad and hauntingly beautiful, it made him want to cry. He could practically _see_ the virtual cobwebs hanging from the chandeliers on the ceiling above his character, years of neglect taking its toll.

Chouji was almost _scared_.

Almost.

Psh, as _if_ he was going to pussy out here. His game wouldn't be saved until he reached the next checkpoint, and the last one he reached was two hours ago.

Anyway, he wanted to see how much better things would get. Chouji pushed his thumb forward, causing his character to walk past a couple of tasteful (dusty) antiques and a large, broken mirror (also dusty), towards the grand staircase and a gold-framed painting of what was possibly the most beautiful woman Chouji had ever seen, in-game or in real life, which was hanging on the first landing.

So preoccupied was he, that he didn't notice the image of a young, dead child appearing in the mirror as he walked past it.

When he reached the top of the stairs, he turned right and walked down the corridor. He paused, contemplating which door he should open first when—

_JIZZ IN MY PANTS  
This really never happens you can take my word  
I won't apologise, that's just absurd  
Mainly your fault from the way that you dance  
and now I  
JIZZ IN MY PANTS_—

"What?" Chouji snapped, irritated at being interrupted during his game.

"_Yo, Chouji_."

"Hi, Shikamaru. What do you want?"

"_Heh. Now, Chouji, is that really how you speak to the person who just spent a bundle on your birthday present?_"

"No fuckin' way." Chouji's eyes widened, and a maniacal grin made its way across his lips. "You _did not_ manage to get it, did you?"

"_No_," Shikamaru drawled sarcastically. "_I did not manage to get it. That's precisely why I called you in the first place and warned you not to talk to me like shit_."

"No fuckin' way," Chouji repeated.

"_Yes fuckin' way_."

"B-But. _How_?" Chouji spluttered, his grip on his controller relaxing.

"_Eh. It's too much hassle to explain. But whatever, I know this guy, Inuzuka Kiba, who works in _LeafGames_, so I got him to sneak in another copy of the game for me when he had to fill in the order sheets. No need to thank me_."

"Don't worry, I won't. But seriously, man, how—oh fuck. Fuck shit _fuck_."

"_What? Chouji, you okay?_"

"Mm, yeah, just gimme a sec—"

Chouji promptly dropped his phone onto the desk and watched his computer screen intently. A young girl had appeared from the shadows and was following him.

_Must be an Undead_, Chouji thought, remembering what the NPC had warned him. Undeads were lost souls, most having had been killed so brutally when they were alive that it became impossible for them to move onto the afterlife in peace, so they wandered the planes of the earth, searching for victims to kill in order to try, in some way, to complete them. It was another classic case of the bullied becoming the bully, to some extent.

Yep, this girl was definitely an Undead. Deathly pale skin, bloodshot eyes, ragged clothing and limp, matted hair; this child ticked off all of the requirements.

Well, there was only one thing to do, really. Chouji's hands tightened his grip on his controller and his thumbs instinctively flew to their place on the gamepad. Hitting the direction control up, he fled further down the corridor, where he was pursued by the Undead.

"Ah crap." Chouji bit his lip. Dead end. Game ove—

Wait. He turned to his left. There was a door—

(the Undead was only a few steps behind him)

—which Chouji grabbed, frantically turning the doorknob with one hand and banging it with the other—

(she halted, right behind him, sobbing and tugging at his shirt)

—but it wasn't budging, so he started kicking at it—

(before opening her mouth to reveal horrible, bloody fangs)

—until it gave way, and he stumbled into the room, where two dead bodies, covered in blood, hung from the ceiling.

"Damn—"

Out of the gloom, a woman with long black hair lunged at him.

Chouji ducked and turned around, speeding off from the direction he came from, knocking the young Undead off her feet in the process.

When he got back to the staircase, the main door just in sight, the eerie music that had been playing since he stepped into the manor suddenly stopped. Chouji paused briefly and looked down at the foyer.

Too late.

The woman appeared as if from nowhere, and pushed him over the staircase banisters. Before Chouji hit the ground, however, the woman swooped down and caught him, dragging him by his collar up to the chandelier.

"_Game over_," she whispered, and, with a wicked grin, conjured a rope out of thin air.

* * *

**Tales Told By Dead Friends**

by allurement

_Prologue_

* * *

**GAME OVER**

"Aw, fuck." Chouji slammed a hand down on his desk in frustration, before sighing and picking up his phone. "Yo, Shikamaru. Sorry about that."

"_What were you even doing?_"

"Oh, this new game called **KONOHA**. It's immense, man. Just died, which really sucks," Chouji said, looking at his now-deceased character who was hanging from the chandelier, a red rope around his neck. His eyes were bulging out of his head and his tongue hung out of his mouth. "So now I'll have to repeat everything all over again from the last checkpoint, which took two fucking hours just now. Great."

Shikamaru sighed. "_You live such a fulfilling life, Chouji. You're way too competitive when it comes to gaming, y'know. If you were half as zealous when it came to, I don't know, real life, then maybe you wouldn't be unemployed right now_."

"Pfft, says the laziest bastard I know. Hey, why don't you come over and we can watch a movie, have a couple of beers, maybe you can even have a go at **KONOHA**."

"_At least I have a job, as fruitless as it may be. And as tempting as your offer sounds, I'll pass. It's almost midnight, and I can't be bothered to get out of bed and hop down to your place. Especially since the weather is shit right now. Maybe if you tore your eyes away from your computer screen for a few seconds to look out of your window, you'd know that. But I'll definitely see you in a couple of days at Sakura's party, yeah?_"

"Sure. So you gonna call it a day now?"

"_Yeah. I'm exhausted._" Shikamaru yawned, as if to prove his point."_You?_"

"Mm. Same. My eyes have gone funny staring at my screen all day. Maybe I'll go to the kitchen and make myself a Nutella sandwich or something first. See you around."

"_Bye_."

Chouji hung up and, after switching off his computer, got out of his seat and made his way to his kitchen. Most of the items in there were his, as his roommates always preferred to eat out. There wasn't much in it—a small stove, which had hardly ever been used, a kettle, a well-worn microwave oven, a large pantry (mostly full of potato chips and other fried snacks), and a medium-sized fridge. He opened the fridge, and stuck his hand in it, fishing around chocolate bars and packets of microwaveable food until he felt the tub of Nutella.

"Hello, baby," Chouji murmured, as he unscrewed the lid to the tub and placed it on the counter before opening up the pantry to look for some bread.

Crap. None.

Chouji eyed the Nutella longingly. "Oh, screw this," he said, slamming the pantry door shut. He walked over to the counter and shoved two fingers into the tub. He took them out and licked them.

Mm, 'tis the good shit.

After one last dip, he screwed the lid back on and put the chocolate spread back in the fridge. He was already chubby enough as it was. Any more, and he'd be fat.

Walking back into his room, he looked at the alarm clock on his beside table. **12:08AM**, it read.

Meh, might as well call it a night. Then he could wake up early in the morning, refreshed, and ready to get past the next checkpoint in **KONOHA**.

Now _that_ was one freaky game. In a good way, of course. Chouji had played a lot of computer games over the years, but never had he played a game like **KONOHA**. One of his roommates, Kankuro, had introduced him to the game over a week ago, but he hadn't started playing until yesterday, and damn, was it addicting. The graphics were nothing short of amazing, and everything was just so… _realistic_. From the characters to the scenery to the manor where his character died. There were times (which occurred quite frequently) where Chouji felt like _he_ was the one in the game, not the one playing it. Hell, he even styled his character so it looked like him.

**12:26AM**.

Chouji closed his eyes. He'd have all of tomorrow to think about **KONOHA**. Plus, it would be better to knock off now rather than wait for his two roommates to get back, what with the racket they made whenever they came in.

* * *

**3:33AM.**

Chouji downed his glass of milk and wiped his brow for the third time. That was the second time he had had that nightmare, the first time being the night before.

Whatever. Must have been all that excess energy the Nutella gave him. How many calories did the chocolate spread even—

Chouji froze. In front of him, there was a shadow, crawling across the floor towards him.

"What the shit?" Chouji yelped, dropping his glass. It fell to the floor, shattering into dozens of shards, some of which cut his feet. He paid no attention to it and ran around the shadow, speeding out of the kitchen and into the living room before stopping in his tracks altogether. "Holy fuck," he breathed, jaw dropping.

In front of him were his two roommates, hanging from the ceiling.

"Oh fuck. Oh fuck. Oh _fu_—"

From behind him, the shadow morphed into a figure and put a hand on Chouji's shoulder.

Leaning into him, it whispered, "Game over."

The hand was as cold as ice. It felt… indescribable.

A few moments later, Chouji was able to identify that feeling as death.

* * *

"Urgh, this is so troublesome," Shikamaru muttered, as his phone rang for what seemed to be the hundredth time that morning. "Hello, Nara speaking."

"_Yo, Shikamaru! It's me! Remember?_" blared an obnoxious voice from the speaker.

Shikamaru winced. "Hello, Naruto. How could I ever forget?"

"_Whatcha doing?_"

"Working. You know, the thing that most people have to do to earn a living so they can afford to eat something other than instant noodles."

"_Whatever, man. Listen, you free for lunch?_"

"Why?" Shikamaru asked. "So I can pay for your meal?"

"_Maybe. Bet you're starving, anyway. I know you didn't have breakfast this morning. You never have breakfasts, do you?_"

Shikamaru stared oddly at the phone's handset. "You are such a creeper."

"_I like to think I'm a cute, cuddly panda myself. So, lunch at Ichiraku at one? Yes, yes?_"

"See you there."

* * *

"So I need your help," Naruto said gravely, halfway into their lunch. "Seriously, I think you're like, the only person who can do this."

Shikamaru sighed. "Why do I feel like I'm going to regret asking you what this favour is?"

Naruto reached into his jacket and pulled out a CD case, grinning.

"Always knew you were smart, Shika, my man," the blond said, placing the case onto the table and pushing it towards Shikamaru.

"_**Dogs In Heat**_?" Shikamaru spluttered, uncharacteristically losing his composure for a moment. He looked at Naruto incredulously. "Ew, you're playing _porn_ video games? _Animal _porn video games? That is disgusting, even for you."

"What? No! No no no! This game is actually really shit scary! It's about demon dogs and stuff. I suppose they're just demonic because of like… hormones? I don't know. But it's not porn! Yet. I think," Naruto said, looking puzzled. He scratched his chin and continued, "Whatever, so, can you help? I can't make it past Level 16 and it's killing me. Literally."

Shikamaru stared at the case, before pushing it back to Naruto. He took a sip from his tea, and said, "Sorry. Never heard of the game before."

"Aw, but you're a legend! Surely you can think of something!"

"Nope, sorry," Shikamaru said, shaking his head. "Anyway, what's the point in you playing the game if all you're going to do is make me do everything for—"

_Riiiing_.

"Hold on," he said. His screen showed an unfamiliar number. "Hello, Shikamaru speaking."

"_Shikamaru?_" came a raspy voice. "_Hey_—_it's Chouza. Remember, Chouji's dad?_"

"Ah, Akimichi-san," Shikamaru greeted, sitting up straighter in his seat. "How are you?"

"_Not so good, I'm afraid. Have you got a minute?_"

Shikamaru glanced sideways at Naruto, who was blissfully devouring his bowl of ramen, oblivious to Shikamaru's phone conversation. "Yeah," he said. "Why, what's wrong?"

Chouza's voice broke. "_I_—_Shikamaru. It's_—_it's about Chouji._"

Shikamaru stayed silent, patiently waiting for Chouza to continue. The older man took a few moments to compose himself enough to say his next sentence.

"_He's dead, Shikamaru_."

* * *

**A/N:**

I'm baaack. Somewhat. Kinda. Or maybe not. Yeah.

So, another horror fic! Somewhat based off of the film _Stay Alive_, where some video game is out to kill people. I will probably never update this ever again.

Or I may update it in a couple of days. One never knows.

Oh, and for those who don't know, a NPC is a non-playable character in a game. The sad part of this all is the fact that I actually had to look this up on Wikipedia to get the terminology correct. Woe.

_Dedicated to:_ Ailey, Andrea, Annie, Iz and Pina. I think they should all know where they are mentioned.

So. How have you all been?


	2. Let’s Begin

**Disclaimer:** Standard disclaimer applies.

**Warning:** Contains violence, gore and strong language.

* * *

"Tell me again."

Shikamaru sighed, and rubbed a hand over his face tiredly. He hadn't slept in three days. He was still hoping that this was just one big joke—a nightmare he would wake up from, eventually.

Maybe that's why he hadn't slept. So he wouldn't have to wake up knowing that it wasn't just a bad dream. So he wouldn't have had to be told that yes, his best friend of twenty two years really was dead, that yes, he _did_ commit suicide. That this wasn't a nightmare. It was reality.

"I—I don't know, okay? I just—We were talking on the phone last night, for God's sake. I called to say that I managed to get a copy of some video game that he wanted. It was this limited edition thing, so everyone was scrounging for it before stores stopped selling them. He invited me over to watch a movie, play some games. I said no, because it would have been too much of a bother. Then the next day, I'm at lunch with Naruto, and I get a call from Akimichi-san saying that he's dead. I don't know—stop asking me about it, Sakura."

The pink-haired girl pursed her lips and nodded quickly, putting a hand on the boy's shoulder. Shikamaru shrugged it off. They stood there in silence, watching as people they knew and people they didn't know came to pay their respects to the dead.

"I'm sorry, Shikamaru. Really, I am. I know he's your oldest friend. But, I don't know, it's just really weird, isn't it? That he and both of his roommates were found dead in their apartment, all hung."

Shikamaru was seriously regretting letting Sakura come along to the funeral. He only let her follow him in the first place because it would have been too troublesome to try to persuade otherwise, but God. Did that girl ever know when to keep her mouth shut? He opened his mouth and was about to tell her to shut the fuck up, when he looked up and saw Chouza approaching them.

"Ah, Shikamaru," he greeted softly, eyes full of grief. Behind him, Shikamaru spotted Chouji's mother, sobbing in the arms of his grandmother. Shikamaru had met her a couple of times over the years he and Chouji had known each other. Nice woman, she was. On top of that, she was arguably the best cook in the whole Kantou region. "Thank you for coming. You know, you were Chouji's best friend. He always spoke very highly of you."

"Don't worry about it, Akimichi-san. It's really—I'm sorry. About Chouji."

"It's okay. Are your parents here?"

"No, they're on their way. I spoke to them on the phone about half an hour ago. They should be here in five or ten minutes."

"Ah, good, good. I haven't seen Shikaku or Yoshino in weeks. And who's your friend here?" Chouza asked, gesturing to Sakura.

The girl in question started and let out a soft 'oh!' of surprise. She stepped forward, bowing her head to Chouza.

"Sorry for my rudeness. My name is Haruno Sakura," she introduced. "I'm a friend of Shikamaru's. I met Chouji at a party a few months ago and started talking. We exchanged e-mail addresses, and used to IM each other occasionally. I'm really sorry for your loss, Akimichi-san. My family sends their condolences, too."

Chouza smiled sadly and tilted his head forward in acknowledgement. He looked behind him, where his wife was being led off by his mother to sit and try to calm down.

"Thank you," he said softly. "That means a lot to me. He wasn't—Chouji wasn't very bright, nor was he athletically gifted. I don't think he had very many friends in high school, did he, Shikamaru? Always preferred the people in his games rather than the people in real life. But he. He was a good boy. My boy was a good boy."

Chouza closed his eyes and tried to steady his breathing. He abruptly excused himself from Sakura and Shikamaru, and walked over to where his wife was seated.

"He's not taking it too well, is he?" Sakura asked.

"Well, how would you feel if your only son had committed suicide just a few days ago?" Shikamaru tried to sound nonchalant, but Sakura detected the hitch in his voice.

"I know. I would have never pinned Chouji down as that type of person, to be honest. He always seemed pretty upbeat. Anyway, I'm going to head off now. I'm meeting Naruto and Sasuke for lunch. Wanna come with?"

Shikamaru shook his head. "No thanks. I think I'll stay here until my parents arrive. And just—I don't know, say goodbye one last time or something."

Sakura nodded sympathetically and bade him farewell, leaving Shikamaru standing alone amongst a crowd of mourners.

The lack of sleep was really getting to him. Everything seemed… dull. He looked up at the sky. The clouds were dark against the grey sky, and were looming ominously towards the gathering of people below.

_Flash_.

Shikamaru spun around. In front of him was a young, blonde girl, probably in her mid-teens. She was holding up an old-fashioned camera—a single-lens reflex one, if Shikamaru wasn't mistaken.

"Oops. Sorry about that," she said apologetically, lowering her camera and grinning sheepishly. "Didn't mean to startle you. It's just that I'm taken this photography course at university, and I thought that you would make a really good piece in my portfolio. I think I might call it _The Lone Deer_. What do you think?"

Shikamaru stared at her incredulously. Now that he was looking at her more carefully, he noticed that she seemed to be around his age. Long, straight, peroxide-blonde hair, large blue eyes set in an elfin-looking face, she looked like she was more suited to be in front of a camera rather than behind it. She had the look and style of one of those quirky model's one would expect to find on the pages of an editorial fashion magazine, not at a memorial service taking random snapshots of people grieving.

"I think, no," he said, once he had recovered. "Has it ever occurred to you that it's bad manners to take pictures of people at a funeral?"

The grin faded from the girl's lips. She glanced sideways as a couple walked past, each holding the hand of a small child.

"Yeah, it has," she said. "But to be honest, you're the first person to even notice I was taking pictures of them. Everyone else here seems to be too preoccupied."

"I wonder why," Shikamaru muttered dryly.

The girl quirked her lips upwards.

"I can tell you're just one big bundle of sunshine, aren't you?" she said after stifling a giggle. She turned away from him, opening her satchel to put her camera inside. Once she had finished, she turned back to Shikamaru and extended her hand towards him.

"Let's start over, yeah? My name is Yamanaka Ino."

"Nara Shikamaru," he said, taking her hand and shaking it.

"I'm trying to find a way to say this in the nicest way possible, but let's face it, it _isn__'__t_ possible, so I'm just going to come out and say it, okay?"

"Um." Shikamaru raised an eyebrow, slightly taken aback . "Okay."

"Your hair looks weird. Kind of like a pineapple."

Shikamaru's raised eyebrow started twitching. So much for having an IQ of over 200. He didn't even have an appropriate comeback for this… girl.

"Thanks?" he settled on.

"So. Which dead person are you here for?"

* * *

**Tales Told By Dead Friends**

by allurement

**Chapter 1:** _Let's Begin_

_For:_ Pina, because she smells.

* * *

"You have no tact. At all," Shikamaru said, shaking his head in exasperation.

"And you have no sense of style. At all," Ino countered. "So I think we're both even. Now answer my question, please."

Shikamaru bit his lip before answering, "Chouji."

"Which one was that?"

"The gaming nerd."

"Shikamaru, they were _all_ gaming nerds. The fat one?"

"Yeah."

"How did you know him?"

"He was my best friend."

Ino's eyes softened. "Oh," she said. "I'm sorry about that. Really, I am."

Shikamaru blinked a few times and dismissed it. "Don't worry about it. Who are you mourning for?"

"Well, I wouldn't exactly call it _mourning_, but…" Ino trailed off. "Well, I'm here for Kankuro. You know, the one that with the guyliner and the homicidal little brother. We went out for a while last year, but he was a bit of a lazy dickhead, and I'm a lot of a diva-bitch, so naturally, it didn't work out. We still kept in touch, though, and stayed friends and everything. He's a lot of fun. Was a lot of fun. We had a lot of good times even when we weren't a couple. I thought everything was cool, you know? That things didn't ended disastrously between us. Then I wake up one morning and get a call from a mutual friend of ours, saying that he and his roommates hung themselves in their apartment, and… I don't know. I really don't know."

"What?"

"Well, I don't know about Chouji and that weird whatshisname that they lived with, but Kankuro's not the type to kill randomly himself without warning, y'know? I mean, the guy wears his heart on his sleeve and is like an open book. If he was depressed, then a lot of people would have been able to see it."

"Yeah," Shikamaru said absentmindedly. "Yeah, I get what you mean."

The two stood in silence for a few minutes, before Shikamaru spotted Chouza waving his hand in the air, gesturing for Shikamaru to come over.

"Uh, look, Chouji's dad is calling me over," Shikamaru said, trying to excuse himself. "I should—"

"I'll come with you," Ino said quickly, brushing past him and making her way towards Chouza.

Shikamaru stared blankly at her retreating form for a moment, before muttering, "Damn woman," and sprinting off after her.

* * *

"Okay, so I knew all of them were gaming nerds, but still. Shit. This is just like, fuckin' ridiculous."

"… Don't you have somewhere else to be?"

"Nah, not really," Ino said, enjoying the way Shikamaru's nose scrunched up ever-so-slightly, making him look even more like a pineapple. "But like I was saying, God, this is just. Stupid. I mean, _how_ many video games are there here? And these are just Chouji's! God."

"Chouji liked his video games," Shikamaru said, almost defensively. Seriously, when was this girl going to take a hint and just _leave_? He didn't like having people in his room, especially strange blonde girls that he had just met at funerals on the same day.

"Okay, Shikamaru, _I_ like video games. Kind of. I mean, I enjoy the occasional blood spillage on my computer, but whatever, you know? But this. _This_. I just—Chouji has enough video games to like, set up his own store. _And_ to not need to ship in new stock for like, two months."

"I get it."

"So like, why did Akimichi-san give all of these to you?" Ino asked, moving on.

Shikamaru shrugged.

"Maybe he thought it would be too painful to keep all of them because they reminded him too much of Chouji?" Ino offered.

Shikamaru glanced at her briefly, before scoffing and saying, "Nah. Akimichi-san isn't like that. He probably just didn't want them to go to waste."

"How practical of him," Ino muttered absentmindedly, sifting through piles of video game boxes. No wonder Kankuro had said that his fat roommate was practically married to his computer. Hell, the guy probably spent more time on it than most married men spent with their wives. Her nose creased in mild disgust when she picked up a box with two scantily-clad female characters displayed on its cover. _Nice one_. She tossed it to one side after sparing it a glance.

"Heh. All the times Chouji said he was too broke to come out," Shikamaru murmured to himself. "No wonder."

"I know," Ino agreed. "This must have cost a small fortune—Hey, what's this?"

Shikamaru turned to Ino to see what had caught her attention.

"**KONOHA**?" she murmured. "Sounds familiar. I think Kankuro mentioned this game like, last week. He said it was brilliant or something."

"I—" Shikamaru began, and stopped.

Ino raised her eyebrow at him questioningly.

"That's the video game Chouji was playing before he died," Shikamaru said, closing his eyes.

The blonde pursed her lips and glanced down at the game in her hands. Well, it certainly topped the list of the freakiest shit she had ever seen. The cover depicted an abandoned-looking mansion with overgrown weeds in front. Dozens of tombstones were haphazardly placed across the front lawn, and at the gates to the manor, two young children were shown hung by the neck, blood dripping from their mouths.

Ino shuddered. Why someone would want to play a game like that, she didn't know.

But she'd be damned if she didn't at least try to find out.

"I think we should play it," she announced.

Shikamaru blinked at her. What was that girl thinking? He—

"_Excuse_ me?" he blurted.

"You heard me. I think we should play the game."

"You have got to be fucking bullshitting me." Shikamaru stared at Ino like she was deranged. "I—_Why_? Why would you even want to? From what I heard from Chouji, it's raw, brutal shit given digital form."

"I know why you don't want to play it, but—"

"Yeah, because only _crazy sadists_ would—"

"Chouji played it!"

"And look what happened to him!"

"Look, it's painful, I get that—"

"Do you?"

"Yes, I do—_let me finish_," she hissed, when Shikamaru opened his mouth to say something. "I understand it's hard—I do, really—especially since he was playing this before he… you know…" Ino trailed off and looked sideways.

Shikamaru, who had moved to stand in front of her during their spat moments before, let out a long sigh, and walked over to his bed. He sat on it and leaned into his knees, putting his head in his hands.

"Don't tell me you don't want to know." Ino's voice was barely above a whisper, but Shikamaru caught every word. He looked up.

"Know what?" he asked.

Ino looked anxious. Almost… afraid, dare he say it. Her eyes, which were so bright when Shikamaru had first met her, looked dull now, but were still piercing. He glanced around his room, trying to find something to catch his attention. Something, anything, as long as he didn't have to look at those eyes.

"Why they did it. Why they killed themselves." Ino let her words hang in the air before continuing, "Look. I—We both know that Chouji and Kankuro _weren__'__t_ suicidal, and if they were, the chances of them both killing themselves on the same night is non-existent. I want to know what happened to Kankuro, and I _know_ you want to know the same of Chouji. You're just letting your feelings get in the way."

"I'm not. I just—it's just that it's… too much… trouble?" Shikamaru finished lamely.

Ino quirked an eyebrow. "_Right_. Anyway. So, do you want to find out why your best friend killed himself?"

"How do you know the video game is the cause of this?" Shikamaru challenged in one last-ditch attempt to shake Ino off of him. "Maybe it's just pure coincidence."

"Maybe so. Maybe it _is_ just a coincidence that _both_ of our friends were playing this game before they died. Maybe it's just a coincidence that Chouji was playing this game _right_ before he died. Who knows? I certainly don't. But I want to. I want to at least try."

Shikamaru swallowed, suddenly finding the pile of (undone) homework at the foot of his bed very interesting.

"Don't you think they deserve that?"

Damn. She got him there.

"Urgh. Fine."

"Great!" Ino grinned and did a victory-dance.

Shikamaru sighed, already regretting his decision.

"So. Give me your phonebook, and I'll call over some of your friends so we can get started!"

"I—What?" Shikamaru did a double-take. "No. No, no, no, you moronic, troublesome woman, you leave them out of—"

* * *

"Hi!" Ino said cheerily, opening the door wider and steeping aside. "Thanks for coming. I'm Yamanaka Ino, by the way."

"Um, hey," Sakura said. "I'm Haruno Sakura. This," she gestured to the two boys beside her, "is Uzumaki Naruto and Uchiha Sasuke. So why did Shikamaru call us over?"

"Why don't you come inside and find out? Kiba and Sai are already here."

The quartet made their way to Shikamaru's living room, where Kiba and Sai were already bickering about something or another. Well, Kiba was, anyway. Sai was just sitting down and smiling politely.

"By the way," Ino said, leaning in towards Sakura, "that Sai guy is really—"

"He was homeschooled all of his life until last year," Sakura responded automatically. "Don't worry. Everyone thinks he's a freak."

"Ah, okay."

"I'm hungry," the blond—Naruto, was it?—whined. "Why are we here anyway—Ow!"

"Headshot," Shikamaru said, smirking.

Naruto scowled at him and bent over to pick up the object that had hit him on the head. "Hello to you too, Shikamaru, you fucking bastard—**KONOHA**?! Oh my God. _Oh my God_. Don't tell me we're playing this."

"Okay then. I won't."

"Oh, but we are _so_ playing this! We have to! The reviews for this thing are excellent!"

"Yeah, the game's been flying off the shelves at my store," Kiba piped up. "Never had the chance to try it, though. Is that what we're here for?"

"You bet," Ino said, plopping down on the couch next to the brunette.

"Chouji was raving about this game the last time I spoke to him," Shikamaru said. "I want to see what's so good about it."

Everyone kept quiet and exchanged glances. It was clear that Sakura had already told them about Chouji's passing.

"Well then," Sasuke said, snatching the game out of Naruto's hold and walking over to Shikamaru's television set. "No point in wasting time. Let's get started, shall we?"

"Yeah, let's," Kiba agreed.

"Oh man, this is going to be so fucking awesome."

If only they knew.


	3. New Worlds

**Disclaimer:** Standard disclaimer applies.

**Warning:** Contains violence, gore and strong language.

* * *

"You guys better clean this fucking mess up when you're done or there will be hell to pay."

"Whatever, Shikamaru," Sakura said lazily, brushing off his threat with an airy wave of her hand.

"… I'm not joking."

"'Course you aren't," Ino piped in. She was sitting next to Sakura, telling the pink-haired girl about her part-time photography internship as part of her university course. The pair, being the only girls present, had struck up an instant friendship, another thing that Shikamaru mentally added to the list of why this whole thing had been a very, _very_ bad idea.

Match made in hell, those bitches were.

"You're just a big wuss puss really, aren't you?" the blonde continued, a mischievous grin plastered across her face.

Shikamaru stared at her. He had known this girl for what, a day?—and yet here she was making herself perfectly comfortable on his couch and insulting him.

"Get out," was all he could think of as a retort. "Seriously, just get out of my apartment."

"Aw, you don't really mean that," Naruto said, entering the living room, his arms filled with cans of Pepsi. "I mean, you haven't had an actual girl in here for so long, I'm surprised you haven't chained up Ino here already."

"Hey, what about me?" Sakura whined, directing her pout at Naruto.

"What _about_ you?" Kiba drawled, snickering at his own little joke. He regretted it a moment later when Sakura threw the remote control at his head with a perfect aim.

"Can we start yet?" Sasuke said. "I'm getting bored already."

"After you guys tidy my house," Shikamaru said, folding his arms and looking at his friends stubbornly. "I mean it this time."

"Dude, you're such a killjoy," Naruto grumbled.

"It's because he doesn't have a penis," Sai said, smiling serenely from his seat, a knowing look in his eyes. "So he feels the need to inflict pain on others. I learnt about this theory last week in Psychology 101."

Ino cackled.

Shikamaru sighed.

_This better be fucking worth it, Chouji_, he thought, glaring at his ceiling.

* * *

Shikamaru walked into his kitchen to find Naruto and Sasuke talking in hushed voices. Or rather, Naruto talking in a hushed voice, and Sasuke standing there impassively, leaning against the sink.

Naruto immediately shut up when he saw the other boy enter the room, and started up an obviously fake conversation about a girl he had just started seeing. Sasuke gave him a look that clearly said, _You are a moron, why am I friends with you?_ and ignored him completely, nodding at Shikamaru to acknowledge his presence.

"Don't insult me by thinking that you're actually fooling me. Like Naruto would be able to bag a model," he scoffed, walking over to his rubbish bin and placing the empty pizza boxes on top. "I really don't give a shit what you guys were talking about anyway. Hurry up, though, everyone's ready to start now."

He turned and made to leave the kitchen, when Sasuke's voice stopped him in his tracks.

"Shikamaru. Wait."

Shikamaru glanced back at Sasuke, who had pushed himself upright and was pretending to find the dull scenery outside Shikamaru's window particularly fascinating.

He smirked.

Uchiha couldn't fool him.

"Yes?" Shikamaru said, feigning innocence.

Sasuke fidgeted uncomfortably, shooting a glare at Naruto, who, for once in his life, was keeping quiet. Alarm bells sounded off in Shikamaru's head; if Sasuke was acting uncomfortable, and Naruto was actually being tactful, that meant it had something to do with—

"We heard Sakura and that Ino girl talking earlier," Sasuke said, trying to sound casual, something he never did, which was what gave him away. "Ino was saying that she used to go out with Chouji's roommate, Kankuro. And… isn't he—wasn't he—"

"Gaara's brother, yeah," Shikamaru finished for him, satisfied that his suspicions were correct. "Ino wanted to call him round earlier. I persuaded her not to in the end."

"Does Sakura know this?" Sasuke probed, while out of the corner of his eye, Shikamaru saw Naruto visibly relax.

"No." Shikamaru didn't know exactly what happened in the whole Gaara/Sakura debacle, but he knew enough to know that it was a sensitive issue amongst her, Naruto and Sasuke. He also knew enough to know not to ask questions on the topic.

Sasuke studied Shikamaru for a moment before nodding and looking away. Apparently their short-lived conversation was over.

Naruto seemed to sense this too, judging by the "Can we start playing noooow?" he blurted, with all the eagerness of a child needing the bathroom.

"Yeah, yeah. Kiba's just fiddling with one last thing in the living room," Shikamaru said, throwing his hand behind his shoulder and pointing his thumb in the direction of where the others were.

"Sweet." Naruto grinned and bounded out of the kitchen, leaving Shikamaru alone with a brooding Sasuke.

"Coming?" Shikamaru asked. "Naruto might kill us if we keep him waiting a moment longer than necessary."

"Tch, like he could," Sasuke scoffed.

* * *

**Tales Told By Dead Friends**

by allurement

**Chapter 2:** _New Worlds_

_For:_ ohwhatsherface, the person that kept kicking my ass until I actually opened the chapter & started typing.

* * *

"Okay guys, don't get this shit tangled up, because it is _hell_ to sort out, plus, I know that some of you—" Here, he glanced pointedly at Naruto, who could only shrug sheepishly, "—have a history of breaking fragile, _expensive_ electronic equipment."

"Yes, mother," Ino chirped, winking at Kiba, who grinned back.

"In my defence," Naruto interjected, "it was not entirely my fault. I was eating—"

"Which is exactly where you went wrong, you moron."

"—and, I don't know, there was a knot, and it just wouldn't come out, and I gave it a little tug, and the whole thing came off and the food got on it! It's your own fault, Kiba, who asked you to lend us crappy equipment?"

"Crappy equipment?" Kiba repeated disbelievingly. "You are fucking kidding me. _Crappy equipment_—screw you, that headset cost close to a thousand yen. You have no idea how much overtime I had to do to pay back the store. _And_ I had to be more careful of the shit I borrowed; they were watching over me like Big Brother for weeks after that incident."

Naruto merely sniffed in reply, having nothing better to say.

"Exactly," Kiba said, satisfied he had won that particular argument. "Now, anyway, **KONOHA**. Shit, Shikamaru, how did Chouji ever get his hands on it?"

"Not a clue. Chouji can be very resourceful when it comes to his video games. I guess even he had connections."

"No, man. This… this is like, beyond resourceful, okay? I mean, _I'm_ resourceful. _I_ have connections. Hell, I even work in a fucking video game store," Kiba said, waving his hands in the air to emphasise his point. "But, I still haven't been able to get my hands on a copy of this!"

"What, is this game _that_ popular?" Sakura said, picking up the disc case and scrunching her nose in disgust at the cover. "It looks disgusting."

Kiba looked like she had kicked his puppy. And castrated it. At the same time.

"That is such a _girl_ thing to say," he scoffed once he had recovered. "You don't get it, Sakura. This isn't just any game. This is _the_ game. The graphics are supposed to be phenomenal, so good that players supposedly start to believe the shit happening in the game is actually real. And trust me, from what I've heard about this game, some screwed up shit happens. A couple of colleagues of mine have tried the game out. Thing is though, you have to have the disc in while playing; it's not one of those install and everything's fine sort of thing. Plus, I don't know what the game creators have done, but it's impossible to burn fake copies of the software. But mind you, looking at the reviews this game has received, it seems like those designers can do anything."

"Can't you just order it or something?" Ino asked.

"That's the thing," Kiba continued. "It's illegal to sell them in stores. It's _so_ graphic that the government can't even censor it; there would be nothing left of the original if they did. So they just failed it on the regulation test thing that they do. I don't know how, but it still managed to leak out, and it's currently circulating on the black market. There have been a couple of cases where some of the people at LeafGames have been paying cash under the counter to get some of the games supplied to us so they could sell it to customers illegally, but before I could put my order down, we had to cut it off, because management was starting to suspect something."

"Why, can't you sell **KONOHA** secretly?"

"You can't sell _any_ game secretly," Kiba answered, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. "But the thing is, with **KONOHA**, it was like… I don't know. It's strange. I mean, in every store, there will be people who do their own things quietly. It's just a matter of whether they get caught or not. In LeafGames, if they catch you, you get a slap on the hand and you're fired, basically. Depending on how much shit you illegally sold, they could choose to charge you with a criminal offence, and you would have to pay a large sum of money to compensate them. Fair enough. _But_," Kiba paused to take a long drink out of his can of Pepsi, "if they catch you with **KONOHA**, it's an automatic jail sentence. Minimum five years. And as much money as the guys were making off of selling the game, it just wasn't worth it in the end, you know?"

"Seems like someone in the higher ranks of the government didn't want the general population to get their hands on **KONOHA**," Sakura said darkly.

"But why?" Naruto asked, puzzled. "I mean, I get if it's too violent to let kids play and stuff. But couldn't they have just sticked an R rating on it? I mean, look at some of the games out there on the market right now. How much worse could **KONOHA** possibly be?"

"If you guys really want to know, why don't you just shut the hell up and put the game in already," Sasuke muttered impatiently.

"Okay, princess, okay," Sakura said, getting up and walking over to the game box to put the CD in.

"Oi, fuckers," she heard Kiba call from behind her. "Get rid of all those drinks now. I don't even care, Naruto, okay, these headsets and controllers cost almost twice as much as the ones you trashed did. Plus, look at all the damn TV screens I brought over."

"B-But Kibaaaa," Naruto whined. "It's not like I'm going to _throw_ the drink at the TVs."

"Do you think I give a fuck? Get rid of them or be banished from the room."

"This isn't even your house, dickwad."

"No, but it is mine," Shikamaru interjected tiredly. "Now listen to Kiba, or 'be banished' or whatever, and not play the game."

"What?!"

"This is what happens to naughty children, Naruto-chan," Ino said playfully, grinning at the other blond. "Just do what you're told so you can come play with us, yeah?"

Naruto glanced between Shikamaru, who looked bored and pretty much apathetic to Naruto's plight, to Kiba, who had already moved on past the whole incident, to the television(s) that Sakura had turned on, the loading image already appearing on it.

"I… I…" Naruto stuttered, his bottom lip quivering. There was blood dripping off of the letters on the screens, falling into puddles at the bottom. "Oh, fuck this," he said, quickly taking off his headset and dashing into the kitchen for approximately two seconds before rushing back out of it.

"This had better be worth it," he warned no one in particular, before making himself comfortable again.

"Oh, trust me," Ino said from beside him. "It will be."

The loading messages on the screens faded away to show a paragraph of text surrounded in mist. It cleared to show what seemed to be some sort of chant.

"Wait, I've heard of this bit," Kiba said. "The Prayer of Elizabeth. We have to read this out loud. Like, into our microphones, otherwise we're not allowed in the game. It's some ritual thing. Part of the design. Pretty cool, eh?"

"Or just idiotic," Sasuke muttered as Naruto smacked him at the back of the head for being a killjoy.

"Don't be such a party pooper, Sasuke-kun," Sakura chastised. "Now, should we say it all together then? So we don't sound like complete fools by ourselves?" When everyone—except Sasuke—nodded, she continued, "Okay. So, 3, 2, 1—"

"_Come to me, clouds._

_May you rise as an evil storm born to rip them open._

_Let the cover of night bear witness and destroy those who resist so they shall harm me not._

_Let the blood of many cleanse me, preserving beauty eternal, I pray you_."

"This is so fucking cool," Naruto whispered.

Another message floated across the screen, asking each player to say his or her name full name into the microphone. Everyone complied, Shikamaru and Sasuke with some reluctance.

"Whoa," Kiba breathed, as the character design screen had finished loading, with his plain default mini-person chirping, _Hello, I'm Inuzuka Kiba!_ in his voice. "Wicked."

A glance around the room told him that his friends thought the same. Even Sasuke looked impressed.

"Hey guys," Sakura said. "Let's make the characters look like us! It'll be so cool, c'mon. They even have my hairstyle and colour! And they already have our voices."

Everyone shrugged, but complied. She was right, it would be really fucking cool.

"We done now?" Shikamaru asked.

"Almost," Ino said, choosing an extremely short skirt for her character to wear. Shikamaru had to admit it was pretty creepy how alike the two Inos looked. "Okay, done."

"Awesome."

"Well, eunuchs and hags, let's get started, shall we?" Sai said, earning a few dirty looks from the others.

"Let's!" Naruto said enthusiastically, oblivious to Sai's inferences. Or just oblivious to their meanings.

"Aw, this'll be so fucking immense," Kiba whispered excitedly as the gates on every one of the screens simultaneously opened for each of the players. "Guys, there's a button on your right earphone that will close off background noise here. Like us talking and shit. Push it, yeah? See you guys in-game."

* * *

"This is amazing," Sakura said, as her character loaded in what appeared to be a deserted village. "Hey, Naruto!" she called, spotting Naruto's character spawn in front of her.

"Sakura-chan! Wait, how can you hear me? I turned on that soundproof thing like Kiba said."

"Yep," Kiba said, appearing from behind Naruto and Sakura. "We're talking to each other in game. Before you guys came, Sai and I linked up all the TVs to Shikamaru's game-box and messed around with the wiring a bit so that we'd all be connected in-game. He's not bad with technology, that Sai. The consoles and headsets are Bluetooth-enabled, so we also paired them all up with each other. Oh, and the headsets have motion sensors on them, so they can detect the movement of your head."

"Fuckin' hell, Kiba," Naruto said, awestruck. He shook his head vigorously and was delighted when his mini-me did the same. "No wonder these things cost so much. As for this game, well. This is… holy shit, no wonder everyone wants it. Look, mini-Naruto is even moving his mouth while I'm talking! Where do we go from here?"

"Let's wait for everyone else to spawn first," Kiba said. "They're probably taking longer because they added more shit to their characters' designs. Vain n00bs."

As soon as he said that, though, Sasuke, Sai and Ino simultaneously spawned to his right, their characters surveying their surroundings.

"Wow," Ino breathed, at the same time as Sai said, "Not bad."

"Fusion headsets?" Sasuke inquired.

"Yep."

Sasuke and his character nodded their heads in approval. "How much are they?"

"The company we bought them for sold them to us for about four hundred American dollars each, and that was with one of those mass buy discounts. We're selling them for five thousand yen per piece, though."

"They're pretty good," Sasuke admitted. "Where's Shikamaru?"

"Here," the boy in question said, appearing next to Ino. "My hairstyle took ages to load," he added almost apologetically, while the others snickered.

"_Go away_."

A young woman had walked out from one of the abandoned houses to stand in front of the players. Her clothing was ragged, and didn't leave much to the imagination. Wearing nothing but a meshed shirt, a massive, ripped trench coat, and fishnet tights under a skirt that rivalled Ino's in terms of shortness, she looked like she might have at one time been pretty. Her eyes were dull, but judging from the laughter lines still present around them, it was clear that they had not always been like that. Her mere virtual presence sent shivers down half of the group's back.

"C-Can we help you?" Shikamaru asked, stepping forward, cursing himself for his stammer.

"_No one can help us_," the woman said, looking away into the distance. "_But many have tried to. They have all failed. Go back now, while you still can. It is not safe to be here_."

From behind, Shikamaru heard Naruto let out what could only be a squeal of excitement.

"What happened?" he asked, choosing to ignore the loud blond.

"_You would be best off not knowing. She has already caused too much damage. She is too powerful to be stopped now, no matter how many of you there are._"

"Who—?"

"_We cannot speak of her name. But you—all of you—you must leave now! Leave here, and never come back. This village is too dangerous for you to be here_."

"And where exactly is here?" Sakura asked.

There was a loud cry in the distance. The woman glanced around nervously.

"_I have to go now_," she said hurriedly. She pulled her coat tighter around her body, and made to run off, but her path was blocked by Sasuke.

"What's going on here?" he demanded. "Where are we?"

The woman stared at him in horror, before opening her mouth. No sound came out, but those who were facing her knew what she was trying to say.

_Konoha_.

* * *

**A/N:** My apologies for neglecting my babies for, as some of you have kindly reminded me, more than a year. Almost two in some cases.

But well, I'll get round to them, promise. Life's just been biting hard, & I still haven't found a cure for my laziness. I'll let you know if I do.

Thanks for all of your support, guys, & not just for _TTBDF_. I have snippets for the rest of my fics, & sure, it's been ages, but your reviews did help to motivate me to get them done. Updates over the next few months will be sporadic, as I have major exams at the end of them, but hey. Summer will be here right after that, & lord knows there's only so much alcohol I can take before I lock myself up in my bedroom & do nothing but write ;D


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